Chapter 5 #2
There were chilling stories of monstrous beings living in the lost lands of Winter in the wake of the Tuatha’s end.
Centuries of ghost stories, sightings of terrible abominations lurking at the borders.
There had been plenty of deaths around the borders, mutilated bodies floating down from Starlight Sea to Summer’s north, washing up on various shores.
Enough to destroy the Bridge of Stars linking Summer and Winter.
Thankfully, the north of Autumn was protected by deep trenches dividing the lands from the Winter Steppes—a huge mountain range signaling the border.
Whatever lived up there now, if at all, was safely kept away from the rest of us…
…and we were heading directly to the heart of it.
“Not that the gods do anything,” Kormac added. “I don’t believe in them.”
His words surprised me. “You don’t?”
He turned and carried on walking. I kept close to him, unable to come up beside him on the narrow path.
“I’ve seen too much,” he said. “Lost too much to have faith.”
“You say their name a lot.”
“So?”
“Why do you?”
“It’s a saying. My dad is the believer.” He took a left at the next junction in the path.
“You have no faith at all?” I asked.
“Not really.”
“Because of the bad things you’ve seen?”
“Make sense to me,” he said defensively. “Should make sense to anyone.”
I sighed, far from weeping now. “I understand where you’re coming from, Kormac. But I couldn’t live without the spirit of Danu inside me.”
“I envy you,” he responded. “I’m jealous of anyone who has strong faith. I really wish I did. I used to, but the years chipped away at it.”
I dropped the chalk I was still holding onto the forest floor. “Faith is about being at peace with an understanding that there is a greater power looking after you. That everything happens for a reason. That death is not the end.”
He threw a look at me over his shoulder. Cold, perplexed by my words. “Looking after you?”
“I know how that sounds.”
“I wouldn’t say you’re being looked after. Not by a long stretch.”
He didn’t stoke my anger. I’d heard things of this ilk before. “I know it doesn’t make sense to someone like you. But it does to me. Even with these recent blows, I hold onto my faith. After all, I’m still here. I’m alive and serving a purpose—whatever that might be.”
“And that’s enough for you?”
“It is.”
“You want pretty lies.”
“How do you know they’re lies?”
“I don’t. As I said, I’m jealous of the faithful. You know what you believe in, and you hold onto that. Must be really comforting.”
“It can be. Sometimes it isn’t.”
Like when your best friends, the family you have chosen, are taken from you. Their lights snuffed out, your heart so utterly broken you’re surprised you can put one foot in front of the other, let alone draw breath.
“I get it from my mother,” I added. “She is the most faithful in my family. Took me to pray at the palace shrine every morning. It has never left me, though I do not pray as often as I should.”
Mother. In her tower. Dead now? Taken and destroyed in her unending slumber? Moved somewhere else?
Blessed Danu. Please keep her safe.
“Let’s not talk about these things,” I said. “We’re not theologists or men of the cloth.”
“Definitely not. And thank whoever for that.”
I couldn’t help the small smile in response.
He rolled his shoulders as we passed a row of trees tightly packed together, their barks twisted as if in battle stances.
The journey continued in silence as we moved through the forest, the path snaking its way deeper and deeper. Larger chunks of chalk jutted out of the dirt, and there were even some white pits farther away from the trail.
We were in chalky country, the trees thinning. In the distance, I saw the beginning of the village and the hint of a white horizon.
Goodness. This was it.
A rumbling sound. “What is that?”
Kormac’s arm shot out. “Get off the path. Now.” He grabbed me, dragged me down into one of those pits. Brambles and vines grew around its edges, providing a crown of coverage.
Good. Because moments later, I heard the horses properly. Charging horses, their hooves practically shaking the ground.
I kept low enough to hide myself, yet high enough to see the path through the brambles.
Royal seelie soldiers in their golden armor charged up the path on horseback. Eight of them. One of them I recognized. An elf. Garret. Part of the royal guard. Often assigned to me when my elven best friends took a night off—Maeve and Boyd were my personal guards most of the time.
Elves made for terrific guards and were extremely loyal.
Like Garret. Always there for me when I needed pleasure to forget a difficult day.
Fair-skinned and blond-haired and extremely handsome.
Amazing in the bedroom with his hands and his cock and his tongue.
Danu, I missed him. He’d given me so much joy.
Even now, scared in this pit, heat bloomed between my legs.
But was he loyal to me still? After all, I’d killed his king.
From lover to hunter.
I ducked down, afraid. A coward. I should leap up and fight, command the trees and ground with my magic.
Destroy them before they could destroy me.
But what would be the point in that? What did it serve?
They were blinded by what they saw. Me the king slayer, the traitor prince.
Them protecting the honor of the crown… before it fell into the hands of Lasair and Lord Florent.
Kormac’s shoulder pressed against mine, our backs to the chalk.
He didn’t look up there, but his blue eyes were considering.
I could tell by the way his irises darted left and right, from the frown creasing his forehead.
Considering another route? Whistoning wasn’t the definitive route into the wastes.
Yes, it was the easiest with its chalk steps.
There were other ways down. More treacherous and more likely to end in a broken back.
An accident…
…freedom…
No!
I rubbed at a kernel of pain in my chest. I noticed Kormac do the same after he probably endured similar considerations. That hunger for freedom.
At least I’m not alone…
Screams followed. The clash of steel. The cries of suffering.
“What’s happening?” I breathed, my heart thrashing against my chest.
“I don’t know,” Kormac answered. “But the village route is out.”
I peered through the crown of brambles. “Are they attacking their own people?”
“Do you think your own would eat their own?”
“No. I don’t.”
“Then there must be unseelie in the village.”
“What?”
He peered over the edge, too. “Waiting for us. Covering all routes. Lasair would do that. It’s a smart tactic. But that means someone found and reported unseelie spies.”
Not so smart. “And you didn’t think to mention this before we walked right into a trap?”
“I had a plan.”
“To hand me over?”
“I couldn’t do that even I wanted to.”
“You do want to,” I said.
He shook his head. “Can we not do this?”
“I’m only speaking a painful truth. I… I’m sorry for upsetting you.”
He didn’t respond to that. “We should get away from the village.”
“What was your plan, Kormac?”
“To be cautious.”
“That’s not a plan.”
“It’s better than walking straight into danger,” he countered. “I had to sneak into your lands with Ren. I’m no novice.”
“But… But that’s it?”
“That’s it. I’m in charge. I’m getting us through this.”
My cheeks flared with angry heat. “You’re in charge? Who said?”
He pressed a finger to his lips. “Be smart, Valance. Yell at me later.”
My hands clenched into fists, indignation rising. But I kept quiet because yet again, he was right.
Always the correct human.
It was abundantly clear where each of our skills lay. And I hated it. I wanted to think smarter, be more of the wild as him. I should be thinking smarter.
“Follow me,” Kormac said. “Keep low.”
He climbed out of the pit, offering me his hand. I took it, his rough and callused hands warm and…
…and what? Nice to touch?
Yes…
No!
Yes…
I climbed out, followed him through the trees.
Keeping low, as he said, my hunting head on.
He might be better in the field than me, yet I had myself some hunting instincts.
Specifically for hunting unseelie trespassing in seelie territory.
With less of this sweatiness and less of this fear licking at the edges of my sanity.
I often thought fear a good thing, to help one focus. To stop any foolish arrogance.
Now I was sick of fear.
“Prince Valance!” a voice boomed from behind me. A familiar one. Horses shook the ground once again.
I froze.
“Keep moving!” Kormac hissed at me.
But the sound of Garret’s command had me stretching from crouch to full height, turning to face him.
There he was, in the trees. Blood splattered his golden elven armor—the best armor in the world.
A man of such handsome clay, he could be a prince from a romantic tale.
Full of charm. Enough to sweep anyone off their feet.
He’d swept me off mine plenty of times, only not in the romantic sense. I just wanted his touch.
At least, I once had.
He jumped down, drawing his sword ready for battle, more screams and fighting coming from the nearby village.
“You’re here, Valy,” he said, using his nickname for me.
Oh, to have those days of him whispering that name into my ear again as he held me in his arms, as he climaxed inside me with my face pressed to the wall.
“Here I am,” I whispered out of his earshot.
“We’ve been looking for you,” he said.
“I know,” I replied louder.
Run to him, fall into his arms. Let him take me away. Let this end now.
And die? Hand victory to Lasair?
Never.
“You need to come, Your Highness,” he said.
“I’m not coming home.”
“Please. Come with me. I’d never hurt you.” Men and women gathered around him. Other familiar faces from around the palace.
What did they know of the usurping plot of Lasair and Florent? Did I tell them?
“Valy?”
“No, Garret. I’m not coming with you. There is so much you don’t understand.”
“Help me understand.”
“Lord Florent is deceiving you,” I blurted. “He is working with Lasair.”